Sarika D. Mehta » Podcast

Air date: 6/15/2018 

The work of CymaSpace has been featured nationally on Jimmy Kimmel Live, as well as at festivals like What The Fest?, PDX Winter Light Festival, Kentucky DeaFestival and in prominent local institutions such as Portland Art Museum and Oregon Museum of Science & Industry (OMSI).

CymaSpace founder, Myles de Bastion, is also a multi-media artist who shares a love of music and technology with Chris. His interest in cymatics began with collaborating with hearing musicians to make his art accessible. Special Events Coordinator Chris Balduc shares this passion for music. Embracing his deaf culture and language, he also aims to promote experiencing music and sound from a different perspective.

This year, CymaSpace is hosting the Portland’s first-ever Northwest Deaf Arts Festival, with renowned deaf artists – role models in the community – including rapper Sean Forbes, poet Raymond Luczak, dancer Antoine Hunter and the Urban Jazz Dance Company and Portland’s Myles de Bastion. This festival also challenges mainstream venues to consider what it really means to be fully inclusive and accessible.

For KBOO Community Radio, I spoke with Myles and Chris at CymaSpace and produced this feature. Check out the podcast and transcript above!

**Stay tuned for the video feature!**

Air date: 4/30/2018 https://sarikadmehta.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/lascafeteras_intersectionsradio1.mp3

Las Cafeteras, the Chicano band from LA, and what I like to think of as unapologetic political folk music for the soul! Each of the band-membThey brilliantly mix traditional son jarocho with contemporary issues. Las Cafeteras hail from the Zapatista-inspired EastSide Cafe in East LA. Their first album, It’s Time, treats us to a contemporary take on son jarocho, while their latest album, Tastes Like LA, incorporates more styles and “tastes” of other music.

Last year, on inauguration day, they released the video for If I Was President, which went viral. They’re not just a rock band with an incredible performance and complex musical layers; they’re educators, social workers, academics, and organizers who care deeply about the communities centered in their music. And as son jarocho’s roots are Afro-Mexican, they pay homage to Black Lives Matter including the victims’ names in their lyrics.

While they were giving a workshop at Portland State University, they also joined me in studio at KBOO Community Radio, for thought-provoking conversation and great music. A short version of this interview aired on KBOO for the April 30, 2018 episode of Intersections Radio but I’m posting the full interview! Check out the podcast and the videos! (And forgive the technical issues!)

If I was President

El Zapateado

Air date: 4/30/2018 https://sarikadmehta.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/brendarufener_intersectionsradio.mp3

Brenda Rufener’s debut YA novel, Where I Live,  follows the story of Linden Rose, a clever and witty teenager who lives at her school in successful secret. Despite this challenge, she still faces typical adolescent issues such as getting ready for the Homecoming dance and studying for the SATs.

One in 30 children in the United States are homeless and oftentimes do not live in areas with shelters or shelters appropriate for women and girls. Brenda Rufener has extensive experience working with homeless children and families and almost ended up in such circumstances herself. Where I Live is a story for everyone.

Our interview aired for the April 30th, 2018 episode of Intersections Radio. Check out the podcast!

Nidhi Chanani is a survivor. She survived a traumatic childhood and the loss of her first baby. That doesn’t stop her from finding and celebrating the beautiful, everyday moments. That’s how she created her graphic arts website and artwork: Everyday Love.

Her debut graphic novel, Pashmina, tells the story of a teenage Indian American girl navigating adolescence and the mystery of her mother’s past. She finds a magical pashmina shawl in her mother’s luggage and is transported to a fantastical version of India. Other women who wear this shawl see potential, possibility and opportunity to empower themselves.

It’s a delightful story of women empowering themselves and the next generation of young women. For the December 18, 2017 episode of Intersections Radio, I spoke with Nidhi about developing this graphic novel, what it means to be a survivor, and celebrating the mundane.

Check out the podcast!

Air date: 12/18/2017: https://sarikadmehta.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/nidhichanani_intersectionsradio.mp3

**Read the transcript of the interview: 012418 Intersections with Nidhi Chanani

Shanthi Sekaran, photo by Daniel Grisales

Shanthi Sekaran is the author of the novel “Lucky Boy”, about adoption, immigration and motherhood, in Berkeley, CA. Two mothers’ paths cross unexpectedly due to their love for this boy, Ignacio – the lucky boy. One mother is documented and one not and the immigration system has heart-wrenching impact on the lives of both families. This outstanding story follows their lives as they each parent this child and fight for him to the end.

We sat down together at Portland’s Literary Festival: Wordstock, in between readings and pop-up events. We chatted about what documentation and immigration really means and how these stories inspired her novel, navigating motherhood as women of color and writing from the perspective of a Latina mother. This interview aired for the November 29th episode of Intersections Radio. Check out the podcast!

**Read a transcript of the interview: 120817 Intersections with Shanthi Sekaran

FULL EPISODE (also featuring Celeste Ng): https://sarikadmehta.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/intersectionsradio_shanthiceleste.mp3

Celeste Ng, Kevin Day Photography

The last time I spoke with Celeste Ng was for her debut novel, Everything I Never Told You, which won critical acclaim and in fact was featured in one of the first episodes of Intersections Radio. Last month she published her second novel, Little Fires Everywhere, and I suspect it will surpass the accolades of the first one.

Little Fires Everywhere tells the story of two connected families in Shaker Heights, Ohio back in the 90s (and by the way, the high school nostalgia is delightful). An interracial adoption of a family friend creates tension in the community and pits family members against each other. This eventually tears the community apart when morals are tested, mothers find and lose the children and Shaker Heights in all of its rules and order are undone in the process.

This book is a page-turner – a powerful one. Celeste joined me in studio for a chat about family in a society of rules and order, navigating motherhood across race and class lines, and what it means to be a woman of color raising our own children. This interview aired for the Nov. 29, 2017 episode of Intersections Radio. Check out the podcast!

Air date: 11/29/2017

**Read the transcript of the interview: 120817 Intersections with Celeste Ng

FULL EPISODE (also featuring Shanthi Sekaran): https://sarikadmehta.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/intersectionsradio_shanthiceleste.mp3

Alia Malek, photo by Peter van Agtmael

Alia Malek is the author of The Home that was Our Country: A Memoir of Syria, in which she she weaves the personal history of her family – particularly her maternal grandmother – and offers insights from Damascus.

In 1970, her grandmother’s flat was occupied by a (legal) tenant who refused to leave. In the same year, Hafez al-Assad took power over Syria, then succeeded by his son, the current president, Bashar al-Assad with over 40 years of the same family in power. When Alia’s grandmother finally got her flat back, she headed to Damascus to help renovate. As the building grew, the nation crumbled. Alia tells us the story of her family and the country.

Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, Alia is an award winning journalist and a civil rights attorney. She’s reported in The New York Times, The Nation, The New Yorker amongst other publications. In 2011, she moved to Damascus and reported from the ground anonymously.

While in town for Wordstock: Portland’s Book Festival, Alia Malek and I sat down together to chat about some of the history and current brutality that afflicts Syria, on interviewing family while maintaining safety, and journalistic credibility as an insider/outsider on the ground.

Air date: 11/20/2017 https://sarikadmehta.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/aliamalek_intersectionsradio.mp3

Back in August, the day before their latest digital album was released, Bomba Estéreostopped by Portland to start their extensive international tour. This new album, Ayo, differs from previous ones with heart-wrenching melodies such as in Duele, at the same time, bringing us great new videos including Internacionales and the viral single celebrating uniqueness, Soy Yo. Of course everyone remembers (and let’s be honest, still rocks to) their 2008 hit Fuego.

For the August 26, 2017 episode of Intersections Radio, I sat down with Simón Mejía of Bomba Estéreo at the Crystal Ballroom just before their concert. We talked about this new album exploring indigenous roots, developing the anti-bullying anthem of Soy Yo, and more. Check out the podcast!

Air dates: 8/26/2017 (KBOO), 11/2/2017 (KXRY)

**Read the transcript: 111317 Intersections with Simon Mejia Bomba Estereo

Rene Denfeld won critical acclaim for her first novel, The Enchanted, inspired by her experience as an investigator on death penalty cases. Her second novel, The Child Finder, is the story of missing children: the protagonist, Naomi, is an investigator who is searching for a missing child, Madison Culver, in the deep snow filled woods in Oregon. In finding this child, Naomi recalls her own past as a missing child.

Rene joined me in studio for a live episode of Intersections Radio at KBOO Community Radio, to talk about the realities of issues that occur in her book: the racial disparities of missing children and the ability to write humanity into society’s worst characters even when considering Rene’s own difficult past.

This interview aired for the September 12, 2017 episode of Intersections Radio. Check out the podcast!

Rene Denfeld

Air date (KBOO): 9/12/2017 https://sarikadmehta.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/renedenfeld_intersectionsradio.mp3

Dr. Vanessa Grubbs is one of the rare few black doctors in nephrology (specializing in the kidney) and that’s just the beginning. She recently published a book looking at racial disparities in kidney transplantation and kidney disease. These issues were enveloped in a love story: she donated her own kidney to her now husband…before they were married.

When they were dating, Vanessa gained insight into the lives of those who live with kidney disease. This lead to changing her field in medicine to nephrology itself, and publishing on racial disparities including issues concerning undocumented immigrants and language barriers for patients.

We met at KBOO and had a fascinating conversation on the disparities due to blood type of African American patients (“good for harvest, bad for planting”) as well as medical assumptions about pain tolerance in specific racial minorities, and how oftentimes undocumented immigrants are the best candidates for transplants, but in the worst circumstances to undergo the procedure.

Dr. Vanessa Grubbs

This interview aired on KBOO for the August 30, 2017 episode of Intersections Radio. Check out the podcast!

Air date: 8/30/2017 https://sarikadmehta.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/vanessagrubbs_final.mp3